one of those things was education. i am very passionate about education because it made such a big difference in my life, but here we are at a time in the world, the information age, the age of technology, and yet 30% of people who enter high school in this country do not graduate. 44% of people who start a four- year college program do not finish it in four years. what is that about? think back to a darker time in our history, 200 years ago, when slavery was going on. it was illegal to educate a slave, particularly to teach them to read. why do you think that was? because when you educate a man, you liberate a man. there i was as a youngster, lacing myself in the same situation because i was not taking advantage of the education. i was a horrible student. my classmates thought i was the stupidest person in the world. i was the butt of all the jokes. admittedly, it was a bad environment. my mother and father had gotten divorced. she was one of 24 children, had a horrible life. discovered that her husband was a bigamist